How God changes the heart…
I know I was supposed to write about Love in my last entry, but I think I will shelf that for sometime, got other things to write about 
We just recently finished our annual Youth camp over the weekend and there was something that took me by surprise. You see, one of my colleagues had actually joined the camp, and I didn't really know it. In fact I never did think that this colleague of mine, or any of my colleagues for that matter would be interested in God and spirituality
Afterall, these kinda things were usually meant for hopeless cases, those simple-minded peasants who didn't know how to control their own destiny
Given, the nature of my company's employees, I had never expected that she would actually be interested in such things. I guess in part it's also due to previous experience where I once approached a colleague of mine who was attending RCIA whether he would be interested in joining our youth group and because the response was not so encouraging, I kinda deduced that most working people would not be interested.
Afterall, who in their right mind would blow off their Friday nights and weekends to attend church activities?
And so you could imagine the look in my face when I saw her.
What on....
"Hey Prash, so where do I park and register?" she quipped me
"Umm...what are you doing here?" I asked, with my low-tone voice
"Huh?"
"Yeah you can just park there and there!" I rapidly replied as I quickly snapped out of my astonishment look and begin pointing around.
And so, as the camp progressed, I kept a close eye on her, and I could see that she was transformed by the end of the whole camp session. She even went up to give her testimony, sharing with the audiance on how this camp has being meaningful to her.
I just sat there and wondered how on earth a person like this, (she was my senior by the way), could be so engrossed and impacted by such a camp. I mean fine, maybe I thought it was just one of those 'feeling high' things ; you're all pumped up to serve God and be as close to him and His people as possible.
5 days have already gone, and I still get text messages from her saying how impactful the camp has been. While I'm still trying to grapple with it, I think perhaps what I'm really experiecing is a real-live testimony that God can indeed change hearts. Ever since attending the camp, it seems like my friend has obtained a new lease of life. It's as though she can somehow 'breath' again ; it's as though she has found new hope in the midst of this calamity world.
While she's going through her own discovery, I guess I'm discovering mine, and the discovery is simply this - God can change people, and when he does, you're never the same. Perhaps God is using my colleague as a real testimony that He can transcend beyond corporate walls and career-minded successful people. Of course I have read such stories of God doing so, but never had I come across something like this. Never had I seen a colleague, or for that matter any colleague be so impacted by God.
To me, this is just a testimony, to show and prove that God's love can penetrate through hearts. It's a testimony proving that 'Our hearts will not rest till it rests in God" . It's a testimony proving that "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all else will be added unto you".
It may not have happened to me, but through my friend, God has worked another miracle in my life.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you ; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" - Ezekil 36:26
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, behold he is of a new creature; the old things have passed away and new things have come" - 2 Cor 5:17
Rekindling my thoughts
It's been quite a long time since I last blogged and yes I kinda missed blogging. Not because I feel obligated to write something on this paid host which I just renewed a few weeks back scratchpad, rather I guess lately I have been thinking a whole lot more. I have, or I would like to think that I have gained insights on things about life. No no, nothing traumatic actually happened in my life, no significant moment or any kind of life-changing situation.
But I might have had a life changing thought... and this life-changing thought, call it an epiphany if you may, has changed me in the way I actually see and observe things around me, especially when it comes to people relationships ; more specifically what I 'm talking about here is love...
More on my thoughts about love in my next entry...
Thoughts on Happiness – Part 1
I was just about to leave the main Yahoo site when something interesting caught my attention. The title read : Happiness - 3 amazing tips from the world's oldest study
The article was an interesting read and the findings somewhat fascinated and reaffirmed my previous held beliefs on happiness (Don't take life too seriously for example). I've always been interested in 'the pursuit of happiness' simply because I like being happy. I love the emotions and positive feelings that are associated with happiness. It's a "duh!" statement I know, but I am still writing it down because that's what I believe and like so much about happiness.
I guess maybe to a certain degree, the reason for this is simply because I grew up in a not-so-happy home where fights and arguments were cyclical and had their seasonal operation. It wasn't that my parents were bad or anything, or that either one had developed a family-breaking habit. The problem was rather (as I adult I see this a little clearer now) that old problems that were raised in the past were just swept under the carpet. Forgive and move-on was my dad's modus operandi when it came to fights and arguments.
However mum was the kind of person who needed to talk it out - something dad was crappy at. Dad didn't like to hear things out and things would end up just being swept under the carpet rather than being dealt with in a healthy manner. So naturally over time, whenever a volcano would errupt, it would be more devastating than the previous, because the previous unsettled lava would come out with the current erruption.
Hence, that's why the first tip this article recommends is to have a healthy outlet to let out your negative feelings. Pent-up feelings may be masochistic and manly, but its determining to the mind and body. Whenever I visit my local pastor to talk about mum's death and how I'm coping with it, he will always encourage me to "cry it out" and just "let it out" and I would do so unbashfully in his room while he just sits there empathizing with my sorrow and struggle. But I feel better after that, I feel light and with his encouragement I'm able to carry on.
So yeah, having a healthy outlet is good for the soul.
More on the second tip tomorrow
